bible – FREEDOM IN CHRIST

The Real Word of Faith pt 2

Last time…. we looked at God’s will to prosper us!

Moving on to speaking out in faith. The condemners of the word of faith idea make the great mistake of ignoring, or not even accepting things that the word of God says. Even denying some things that Jesus actually said. Theologising away the true meaning of Jesus words.

And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Mark 11:22-24

It is clear, that Jesus meant what He said above. It was in response of the disciple’s amazement that the fig tree that was spoken to the day before by Jesus, had died. Jesus tells us to Speak in faith and not doubt in the heart. Believe what you says is going to happen, it will be granted. Jesus then doubles down on what He is saying by adding for prayer, believe that you have received What you asked for, and they will be granted you. This scripture even has a type of decreeing and declaring as part of prayer. Whoever says to this mountain!

Jesus tells us, “Whoever says to this mountain.” This tells us that we have authority over the earth, that we can speak to things and what we speak will happen. The prerequisite is to have faith in God. It does not have to be a great faith! Faith of the size of a grain of mustard seed. Elsewhere we are told that we will not enter the Kingdom of God unless we have a child like faith! We just need a simple faith and nothing shall be impossible to us.

Again, Jesus states this truth, yes, it is a truth not just a good idea or manmade doctrine. After disciples could not cast out a demon, let’s remember that previously the disciples had been casting out demons. They had marvelled at the power that they had. It could be said that they kind of boasted about it. This was not just the twelve, it was also the, another seventy.

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. Matthew 17:19-20

‘The littleness of your faith.’ Could this be some reason we do not see these signs in our day. There are many preachers that will tell us that these kinds of things passed away with the death of the last of the apostles during the first century after Christ death and resurrection. Jesus tells His disciples that if they had faith the size of a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible to them. Again, we see that it is all about speaking out in faith! Jesus is not specifically talking about mountains, but anything that we declare or ask of the father.

When we put together all of the prayer promises of Jesus teaching, anything means anything. When we are led by the spirit to pray and ask for things, be it healing, casting out demons, or even provision for our needs. This is clear teaching of Jesus. But for so long we have been told by some preachers and teachers that this is not what Jesus actually meant. That God does not really desire for us all to prosper. Hearing this promotes doubt in the hearts of people.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. Hebrews 11:1-2

If you Have a small amount of faith, we should be able to do the works of Jesus and more! Nothing should be impossible for us. That is what Jesus said! These are the plain and simple to understand words of Jesus. Anyone who says that the speaking or declaring things as form of prayer is not found in the Bible are denying the words of the Lord Jesus. “If you speak to the mountain,” “If you speak to the tree to be removed to the sea, it will be done for you.”

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you. Luke 17:5-6

Is this not decreeing and declaring? Just a small amount of faith should enable us, with the Holy Spirit residing within us, to speak and see impossible things happen. We all know that it does not seem to work for a lot of the time. That is not a reason to not believe what Jesus said. We tend to doubt when the thing we pray for, declared does not happen miraculously, immediately. The doubters and critics who put down this kind of prayer seem to have the Gospel, a form of godliness but deny the power of it. The words of their mouths relay the state of their hearts.

I have watched many hours of some of these people who seem to think that they have a ministry of calling out who they think are false teachers. There is no such ministry listed in the New Testament. There are examples of Paul seemingly calling out some false teachers. They are public to us as we can read about them. They are not an open public calling out, they are private, written to individuals, and individual churches.

Paul also wrote to Timothy that he should study and be careful of what he preached, taught. I see that most of these accusers claim to be cessationists, and reformed, Calvinists, who have doctrines and teachings that are suspect. What I have heard from watching some of the apologetics that they use, they twist scripture so much more than the people that they are talking about. They do this to try to scripturally make their point.

It is true that some people have got rich through their ministry, not all of these are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Many people, even millions, have come to know the Lord through the Gospel that was preached by these people. A Gospel that includes salvation, healing, and prosperity. The Good news that the promises of God to the Hebrews of the Old Covenant are the same promises for us under the New Covenant, without the curse of failing to obey the law.

Under the Old Covenant sickness was a curse of the law, poverty was a curse of the law. The curse of the law comes as God removes His protection and blessing. God’s blessing of Abraham was not just the land of Caanan, the promise of a future Messiah, it is clear that God greatly blessed Abraham in wealth and possessions. We are supposed to be blessed with the blessing of Abraham which was before the law of the Old Covenant.

The blessing of Abraham is that all the world would be blessed with salvation through the descendant of Abraham, Jesus. Abraham was blessed through his faith in the promises of God. Pomises not promise, the Saviour of the world.

We can say that the promise, blessings of Abraham were demonstrated to the Hebrews, in them possessing the promised land of Caanan. They were blessed with victories in battle in supernatural ways. They were blessed as Abraham in prosperity, in livestock, fruit of the land, children and more. The Hebrews prospered as God had promised them also through Moses in Deuteronomy 28. They also suffered the curse of the law through disobedience.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. Psalms 103:2-5

Decreeing and declaring can be seen as proclaiming the word of God, the promises of God in situations. For instance, God is our healer, it is God’s will to heal us. So many in the church in general have forgotten this truth. Even leaders will admit that is not God’s will to heal everyone. That is not what was displayed in the ministry of Jesus.

Sickness is a curse of the law. The whole world is under the curse of the law, a part of the curse that came upon the world through the sin of disobedience of Adam. Jesus told his Disciples that those who believe in Him will lay hands on the sick and the WILL be healed. Jesus gave more detail than this though. He said those who believe because of the word preached by the Disciples will heal the sick and cast out demons!

These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; Mark 16:17

The Word of Faith is declaring the Word of God in our lives. There are those who think this is heresy. They are wrong as they deny the power of the Word of God. They deny the power of the Gospel. They deny the power of God the Holy Spirit that lives within us.

The world has taken the word of faith from the Bible and used it to great effect. It has become a way of the world, but it is counterfeit to the real word of faith as taught by the Word of God, through faith in the Lord. The world has faith in their own ability to prosper, not faith in the Lord.

We are to Have Faith in God, and speak to the mountains that come up in life, and tell them to be remove, they will god through faith, not with doubt in our hearts. Mountains of sickness and disease, Mountains of poverty and of lack, mountains of struggle and opposition.

We just need to have a small amount of faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, and nothing should be impossible to us

Be Blessed

Charlie

The Real Word Of Faith pt. 1

The Real Word Of Faith!

I thought that I would do a message about the word of faith. Partly because I am sick of all the people of social media who rubbish, lay into the so-called word of faith movement. It has been labelled the word of faith movement because that is the name of the monthly magazine produced by Kenneth Hagin Ministries. Through this they call Kennth H. the father of the word of faith movement.

Now let me clear something up. The word of faith got mixed up and intertwined with the so-called prosperity gospel movement. What I mean is that some sinister preachers saw a way to use the true word of faith to make themselves rich. This has nothing to do with the living in faith for God’s provision that Kenneth Hagin promoted.

I admit that there are some unscrupulous persons within the word of faith believers that have taken things too far and created a false doctrine of the word of faith. Just as there are false doctrines in many other Christian groups. Such infant baptism; the Catholic sacrament of communion; cessationism; adherence to the Jewish law or part of it; that God’s only means to talk to us is through the Bible, double predestination of the Calvinists. These are all perversions of the Gospel in some way.

The doctrine that it is God’s will to prosper us Spiritually, physically and financially is all part of the Gospel of Jesus. Jesus healed all who came to Him, except some because of the lack of people’s faith. (Lack of Faith)! Jesus and His disciples never had a lack of finances. They gave to the poor! It was God’s will for His people to prosper in all areas of life, under the Old Covenant. Would our Father take away that will for His people under the New Covenant. A better Covenant with better promises.

Peter said, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.” And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.” Luke 18:28-30

Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. Mark 10:29-30

These scriptures clearly show that the blessing of God upon those who choose not to trust/have faith in their own possessions, count them as nothing compared to following Christ, will see increase in prosperity in friends and family as well as possessions. Notice that it makes a differential between this life and the life to come. God’s will is for us to prosper in this life, age! There is also the notice in marks Gospel, that those riches will have persecutions accompanying.

The psalms are a great place to see what God’s will and grace towards His children is. In fact, God’s will to prosper His people/children can be found all through the whole of the Bible. Some can be attributed as specifically to the children of Israel, in the promised land. The truth about God is that He only desires what is good for His children.

O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the Lord, you, His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry. Psalms 34:8-15

Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Psalms 37:3-6

These Psalms clearly show the heart of God to prosper His children in their lives, in this life. It is a question of faith in the Lord. Cultivate faithfulness and He will give you the desires of your heart. Taste and see that the Lord is good. They who seek the Lord will not be in lack of any good thing!

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. Psalms 103:1-5

The benefits of trusting and worshipping the Lord are forgiveness of all our sins, all of our sins. The healing of all our diseases. Crowning us with His loving-kindness and His compassion. He will satisfy our years with good things, so that our youth shall be renewed as the eagle. This sounds much like a Gospel of prosperity! It includes forgiveness, healing and prosperity!

The preaching, teaching that God’s will is to prosper us is not unbiblical in any way. Again, I agree that a few people have taken this to extreme in a very wrong way; for their own personal gain. Just because some preachers have gone wrong, does not make the prosperity message as a whole, as being unbiblical. God’s desire is to bless His children with good things. That includes monetary wealth and healing. To take these things out of the Gospel is to not preach the whole Gospel.

When some people say such things as, prosperity preachers are going to hell for leading people astray, they are in danger of ending up in hell themselves. This kind of judgement that they make as to condemning people to hell is solely God’s to make.

The word of faith message is straight out of the Word of God!

Be Blessed

Charlie

The Blessing Of The Lord

A Blessing of God

Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested. 1 Chronicles 4:10

I opened my Bible the other day, as I have more than just a little interest in the history of Israel, to 1 Chronicles. Some of the genealogies are monotonous to me as they are to anyone, then I came across this kind of random verse about a man called Jabez. I asked myself, “Isn’t this a selfish prayer?” So, I bookmarked it to ponder upon.

The prayer is not just for the blessing of God, but to be blessed indeed, or in today’s language, ‘Well blessed.’ Enlarge my border is to have more land or property. Then the last part of the prayer is for protection that it will not be a pain to him. I think that Jabez was probably asking that his riches would not cause him harm and become a pain to him. On the surface it sounds like a totally selfish prayer. BUT God granted Jabez his request. It does say this about Jabez. These are the only two verses there are about this man.

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, “Because I bore him with pain.” 1 Chronicles 4:9

My mind went swimming with all the promises of God that were written. I thought about the promises of God that most of us gladly claim and accept. Salvation, eternal life provision of our needs healing! We tend to shy away from the promises of success and wealth, because of the bad press of the prosperity gospel fraternity. God did promise and gave the prosperous land of Canaan to the Israelites. God promised to Abraham, to bless the people of faith after the faith of Abraham, with the blessings of Abraham. This included wealth.

Then recalling the many times that Jesus taught about prayer, that we would be granted whatever we ask for, if we ask in faith. But we have been taught and it is in our hearts that we must pray according to the will of God. The question should be is it God’s will to bless us with more than we need. I would say yes to that question. Because then we can be a blessing to others. That is part of the being an honourable man.

David says in this psalm that as Saints, we who fear/revere/honour God and seek Him there is no want or lack of ANY good thing. This is God’s will. Pauls says that God will supply all our needs, not just the desperate ones. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, Knock and it will be opened. Look at it this way, we need to ask in faith. That is an important point. Asking and then adding if it be your will Lord, is not asking in faith. Ask and it will be given, maybe it will take a while. The second aspect of this is seeking, to me that sounds like living with an expectancy, not doubt. That expectancy is looking for the answer to the prayer, sometimes that can take some work.

It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it. Proverbs 10:22

This can take a long time to explain, but it is not the prosperity gospel, prosperity is a part of the Gospel, as is salvation the number one aspect, and healing, peace, righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit. Next time we look at some more of the promises of God as our provider.

God’s Blessings

Above we saw that Jabez prayed and ask for prosperity, and it says that God granted his request. That is the basic truth about Jabez, and that he was more honourable than his brothers. Perhaps he read David’s Psalm below. Maybe He worked out that God is faithful to His promises. Trust in the Lord, do good and cultivate faithfulness in God, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. Psalms 37:3-5

I have heard teaching that says that if we are faithful in works for God, grow in faith, read the Bible and keep it on our minds constantly, That God will change our desires to His desires for us. This sounds like good teaching on the surface, thinking deeper about it, it would be so easy to make these things into works of our flesh. Jesus cuts through this, in the middle of the parable about the vine. Jesus is the vine and as long as we stay connected to the Vine, we will be abiding in Him, and His word is abiding in us. We will bear fruit.

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7

There is a condition that is not really a condition. We must abide in Jesus and His word. We must obey His commandments. What commandments are they? To love God and to love one another. Jesus taught that we are not in the will of the Father unless we forgive everyone who has something against us. Unforgiveness creates some sort of blockage in our relationship with God.

The question is, Does God want us to be prosperous? I don’t mean to be so rich that we have too much money to know what to do with. I am talking about having plenty and not be in lack of any good thing. That is one of God’s promises. To have enough that we can give away and be a blessing to others. When I read through John’s Gospel, it is noticeable how many times it says that we will get what we pray for.

Whatever you ask in my name, that’s what Jesus said. The next question is this; Does God want us to be poor and have lack in our lives? The answer is No. There may be times that we go through periods of lack. Have challenging times of not enough. Generally, God’s will, is for us to prosper; to have more than enough. Though this psalms says more, and it is a heart humbleness, not a works humbleness.

But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. Psalms 37:3-5,11

We are going through some tough times financially, but God is our provider, not the world or the government. God may well use the world or government to provide for us, but our faith should be in God. Everybody seems to be relying on the government to do something to help with inflation, especially fuel costs. If we do this as Christians, our faith is no longer in God.

In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. John 16:23-24

Ask for anything in Jesus Name. In this chapter there are no added conditions to this promise of answered prayer, except to ask in Jesus’ name. If we have a daily relationship with the Lord, we are abiding in Him and His word. We must believe what He said is true, whether we are asking on behalf of others or for ourselves. As Jabez did and God granted His request.

For us He will do it.

The Lord Bless You

Charlie

God’s Word, Our Shepherd!

God’s Word Our Shepherd

Some may find this title surprising, but I read 1 Peter 2:25 and it came to me. I said to myself yes that is true. Then I read the whole of the chapter, and other verses came into mind to support this thought. There are so many that I cannot put them all in this part, 544 but we will see what we can fit in.

Peter wrote this book to Christian Jews who had been scattered to various places (see 1 Peter 1:10). Basically, he is saying to these people that they by becoming Christians, have returned to the shepherd and guardian of their souls. Now they have been born of the Spirit and are making the choice with their minds to follow Jesus, The Word!

The key word for me in this is ‘Returned.’ Before being born again they were straying sheep. Straying from what though? It was straying from the truth of God’s word. God’s word to them is our Old Testament, which is full of the promises of redemption that was to come in Jesus. Even the Law! Full of promises of blessing to them. Even the blessings of Abraham. So, who is the Shepherd and Guardian of their souls? Of course It is Jesus The living word of God.

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds, you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. 1 Peter 2:24-25 NASB

If we are only taught the law and not the Grace of God, we get into bondage to the law. If we try to live according to the law of sin and death, we will live in bondage to it. Grace set us free. The grace of God is that He loved the world so much he sent His son, The Word. He sent His Son to redeem the world. The redemption price was paid, because God love everyone. The price was paid for everyone. We are saved by grace through faith in the Word.

So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36 NASB

Returning to the guardian and shepherd of their souls is returning to a life of faith in the Word of God. If you look at the 10 Commandments and think about them along this line. They are commandments of Love. If We love God and our neighbour, we will not break any of the other commandments. That is why the Word says that Jesus was the fulfilment of the law.

Now the Word (Jesus) being the shepherd of our souls. Here is a verse that says something similar. Because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, God had to do something to try to protect His people. He gave them the law, His Word. Not so they could be condemned for not obeying, but to show them right from wrong. To protect them from the evil that was being done by the people they were driving out of the promised land, and the peoples that were around them too. To make the point here are three different translations of the next verse.

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Galatians 3:23 NASB

So until the revelation of faith for salvation was released, the law was a jailer, holding us as prisoners under lock and key until the “faith,” which was destined to be revealed, would set us free. Galatians 3:23 TPT

Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for. Galatians 3:23 MSG

The Law was the Guardian and shepherd of the Jewish people until Jesus, The Word became flesh, until He could come and set them free. Faith comes by hearing The Word of Christ. The Word of Christ is the living Word of God. Even more than that Christ is the living Word of God. So, when Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd,” He is saying that the Word is our shepherd. The word is a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path. That is Jesus the light of the world.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1,14

God said through King Solomon, a wise man! Give attention to My Words, they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. All the wisdom that we need is within God’s word. God’s word is life to us. Not our Blood, that is life to our bodies, to a point. Our life that keeps our bodies going is the life of our spirit. Without our spirits our bodies are dead. So, the life of the Word of God is a Spiritual life that affects our bodies.

The point is this, it is the word of God that we should be into as much as we possibly can. It is the truth, and the truth sets us free from the bondage of sin and death to eternal life. It is the Word that is our shepherd. What is it that we walk by faith in? It is the Word of God. How do we know God and Jesus The Word? By meditating on the Word of God

If eternal life is knowing God and Jesus His son, John 17:3, then we have eternal life by knowing His word. Thinking about this, it seems that may just be the answer why so many people/Christians are still in bondage and not the freedom which was brought for us with the price of the life/death of our Lord Jesus. They do not know the Word of God, so they do not know God and Jesus His Son.

Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. Psalms 119:105

This verse from Psalms tells us that wisdom is found in God’s word. It says that if we want to see which way to go in life then we have the Word of God to lead us. The Word of God is our shepherd, Jesus, The Word, is the one who will lead us through any trial or tribulation, to still water and green pastures, as it says in Psalm 23. God’s word is truth, and Jesus said that the truth will set us free. We become free through the knowledge of God’s word, as we allow it to lead us in the way that we should walk.

Be Blessed

Charlie

The Mind Of The Lord

Mind of The Lord

This scripture is one that I have loved for many years as I am sure many of you have. It popped up on my TV screen while having piano worship playing on YouTube. So, I began thinking about these verses, and how they relate to believers today. Sometimes we read some scripture and not really think too deeply about it.

Isaiah was a prophet to the Hebrews directly, he also prophesied things related to us as the Church of Jesus Christ. Not everything that is in Isaiah can be related to the Church today. This is because our relationship with God is very different to that of the Hebrews of his day. Two very different covenants.

The Covenant of the Law, usually called the Old Covenant, was a covenant made between God and the chosen people, the Israelites and any other people who lived with them. It was the mind of God for the Chosen people and relates specifically to the promised prosperity for them living in the promised land of Canaan, (Israel).

The question is, can we know the mind and thoughts of God? It is truth that God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours when we think in flesh in the natural. God thoughts are higher than ours when led by worldly wisdom and ideas of living and doing things.

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:14-16

This scripture tells us that we have the mind of Christ. How does this equate with the words of Isaiah? Isaiah was talking about the coming salvation of the world through the suffering servant Jesus. The only way that the people of the Hebrews got to know the thoughts of God was through a Spirit anointed prophet. That was under the Old Covenant.

The natural man! When we go by our natural thoughts and inclination, we do not accept the things of the Spirit, we cannot understand them. When we look at things, problems that we have to overcome from the natural stand point, then try to work them out through our own natural wisdom we restrict the power of the Spirit to work through us.

Under the New Covenant every one of us has the seal of the Holy Spirit in us, and the access to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is through the Spirit that we have the mind of Christ. We have the wisdom of God at the tip of our tongues, and in our souls, all we need to do is ask, and God will give His wisdom to us, freely, willingly and generously.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. James 1:5-6

Sometimes we must trust the thoughts that come to us as the wisdom of God. It does not matter if that thought seems contrary to the way we think, or the world thinks that is the way forward. If we are led by the Spirit sometimes, we will be led in what we think is strange to our natural minds. I think that is what it means that God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours. God’s thoughts towards us are written in His word!

God’s desire is that we know God’s thoughts and ways in working out our lives, in every area of our lives. God’s desire is that we walk by the Spirit. When we do walk by the Spirit, we will not carry out the desires of the flesh. We will carry out the desires od the Spirit, and so, the desires of God for our lives, in each situation.

There are many instances in the Old Testament where men of God did things that seem strange to the natural mind. David, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha to name a few. Men that were anointed with the Spirit of God to do what seemed unnatural. They sought after God and did as the Spirit led.

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. John 16:13 NASB1995

The words of Jesus talking about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Whatever He hears, He will speak to us. In any situation that we face we can know the wisdom that we need. As James said sometimes, we will need to ask, in faith. As Christians we have access to the thoughts and ways of God in regard to things in our lives.

It is clearly God’s will for us to know the will of God. We should be proving what the will of God is by the renewing of our minds, as it says in Romans 12. One of the roles of the Holy is to reveal to us the will of God, the mind (thoughts) of God. When we are led by the Spirit sometimes, we do not know what to do until we have prayed. On top of that we have Jesus and the Holy Spirit interceding to the Father on our behalf. The Spirit that now lives within us will reveal the mind of the Lord to us for anything that we pray for.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. John 14:12-15

God’s Will is for us to know His mind, that we will know that we can ask anything in Jesus’ name knowing that we have asked according to the will of God.

He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore, I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. John 16:14-15

Be Blessed

Charlie